


Troubled Waters

by icandrawamoth



Series: February Ficlet Challenge 2019 [17]
Category: Star Wars - All Media Types, Star Wars Legends - All Media Types, Star Wars Legends: X-Wing Series - Aaron Allston & Michael Stackpole
Genre: Alternate Universe - Merpeople, Blood, February Ficlet Challenge, Hurt/Comfort, Implied/Referenced Torture, Injury, Kidnapping, M/M, Merpeople, Multi, Polyamory, Reunions, Telepathy
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-02-21
Updated: 2019-02-21
Packaged: 2019-11-01 13:53:25
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,346
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/17868494
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/icandrawamoth/pseuds/icandrawamoth
Summary: The mer and the humans aren't at war, but that doesn't mean they trust each other. When Tycho disappears during a solo patrol, Wedge and Luke are left to pick up the pieces.





	Troubled Waters

**Author's Note:**

> Written for February Ficlet Challenge day seventeen prompt "alternate universe: merpeople."

The mer and the humans aren't at war, but that doesn't mean they trust each other. Their civilizations have come to blows in the past, and everyone is convinced it will happen again, so both remain vigilant. The humans, for the most part, stay away from the water, and the mer fastidiously patrol their borders.

That's how Wedge, Tycho, and Luke meet. They all arrive at one of the outermost mer colonies at the same time for training as sentries, and they're inseparable from the start. It doesn't take long for friendship to bloom into romance among their little pod. The days fly by while they're together. Between their work, their relationship, exploring the colony, and spending time with their friends, time seems to stretch on forever and happy in front of them.

In the beginning, they're assigned patrols in groups, then, once they've gained more experience, they go alone. The watches are simple: a string of hours swimming a prescribed route near the shore, on the lookout for humans approaching their sanctum. They never do; even the few boats the nearby settlement has stay well within the unspoken boundaries of the shore, making the patrols more boring than anything.

Some mer find the human world fascinating, but Wedge doesn't bother himself thinking more about it than he has to. He has everything he wants here underwater with his friends and loved ones. He couldn't survive in a human village anyway; curiosity aside from what's required for his job is pointless.

One day, Tycho goes out on a solo patrol and doesn't return. For hours, Wedge and Luke wait anxiously, hoping for a reasonable explanation. He got lost or saw something he needed to investigate and lost track of time. He'll come swimming back to them any moment.

Hours turn into days, then weeks, with no sign.

Wedge doesn't know what to think. The emptiness eats at him like half his heart is missing, and it's so much worse when he looks at Luke. Luke comes home from his own patrols looking drained and listless. Luke is one of the rare mer born with extraordinary abilities – healing and stronger telepathy than the normal immediate mer to mer communication, among others – and though Wedge knows he's using every bit of them he can to try and find Tycho, he can't.

 _I just don't understand,_ Luke laments one night after he returns, restless in Wedge's arms as they try and fail to sleep in the too-empty bed. _We've searched everywhere. If he were in the ocean, I would be able to find him._

 _What if he's on land?_ Wedge ventures, hating the very thought of it. _What if the humans took him?_

 _Why?_ Luke asks desperately, the luminescent streaks in his deep blue tail flashing with his distress. _Why, and who?_

 _I don't know._ Wedge pulls him closer and strokes his hair. _But we have to find him._

 

They and the others continue to search, but to no avail. Eventually, excuses are made by their superiors. It had to have been some sort of accident. A shark attack, perhaps. It would explain why Tycho disappeared without a trace.

Wedge bristles when he hears that, his own sharp gray tail snapping back and forth in agitation, as if it would be a personal betrayal that the animals he shares ancestry with hurt someone he loves. Luke just silently clutches his hand like he understands.

It certainly doesn't help that the story isn't true. Tycho is smart and strong. He would never have let a predator get the drop on him. Yet no other official explanation is forthcoming.

And so the official search ends. The patrols return to their regular schedules and borders. Wedge clenches his jaw and follows orders even as he keeps looking every time he goes out and in every moment of his spare time, eyes always on the distance, searching for any sign.

One night, Wedge swims to the surface. A fierce wind blows, catching the dampness of his skin and making him shiver. He looks at the faraway shoreline and opens his mouth, lets out the piercing echolocating cry of the mer, a wordless  _where are you?_ When there's no response, he does it again, desperate, pleading. Then again. Still nothing.

Until, suddenly, there's a soft answering series of vocal clicks –  _here, here_ – but as soon as his heart kicks, Wedge realizes it's coming from behind him, and it can't be Tycho. He turns in the water, and there's Luke a little ways away, moonlight glinting off his blond hair.

Despair drops on Wedge's shoulders like a net dragging him down as his remaining partner approaches.

Wedge can't meet his eyes. “He's really gone.” His voice is hoarse in the open air.

Luke's arms wrap around him. “We don't know that.”

A sob catches in Wedge's throat. It's so hard to hope at this point. “What more can we do?”

“I don't know,” Luke admits quietly, and Wedge feels him reaching out mentally, trying to soothe him.

Wedge does his best to let him as he reluctantly lets Luke pull him back under the waves and lead him home.

 

Five months pass. Five months with no sightings, no mental contact, no hints. Five months of grief and despair.

They don't admit it, but Wedge and Luke are both starting to let themselves wonder what life will be like going forward without Tycho. To admit it's something they can do, together. They start to spread out in the bed, filling the hole he left. They buy less food instead of the usual portions for three.

They try to live. They joke with their friends. They work. Little by little, a tentative and hopeful new normal starts to reassert itself.

Then, one day, they go for swim together. No real destination in mind, just something to do to wile away a free afternoon, they drift toward the shore.

Wedge smells it first, his keener physical senses ever on alert. _Blood_ , he says shakily, and he moves ahead of Luke, cautious, heart pounding. _Not animal or human._

 _Mer?_ Luke mental voice is loud and sudden.

Wedge nods and follows the scent, Luke on his tail. It leads them closer to the beach, and soon they can see the cloud of red wafting from-

A tangle of red and black and white, flowing with the current. Wedge cries aloud, wordless and frantic as he dashes to the surface, and he's right, gods, he's _right_.

Lying on back in the surf is Tycho. The delicate fins of his beautiful koi tail are torn and mangled, a bloody mess. His eyes are closed, sand sticking to his skin and streaking his blond hair. His chest rises and falls shallowly.

“Tycho!” Wedge croaks, and in an instant, he's beside him, crouching in the sand, Luke pulling himself up to Tycho's other side.

Tycho's eyelids flutter, and his head rolls groggily. “'edge?” he whispers.

Wedge is shaking all over as he touches the precious face he never thought he'd see again. Words choke in his throat, but he presses them out. “Yeah. Tycho...gods, you're here. What happened?”

“Took me,” Tycho rasps, shifting weakly against the sand. “Left me...”

Wedge takes his hand as he glances desperately up to where Luke is delicately examining Tycho's damaged tail. “How bad is it?”

Luke shakes his head. “Bad enough I can't fix him alone.” He moves back up to Tycho's head, touching his hair gently. “We have to get you back to the colony. If Wedge and I hold onto you, can you make it?”

Tycho shudders and looks up at them blearily. There's something approaching a smile on his face, and it makes Wedge's heart ache. “Anywhere but here,” Tycho agrees.

Wedge and Luke both get their arms around him, gently drawing him into the deeper water, both wincing at the pained sounds he makes.

 _You're going to be all right,_ Luke promises fiercely as soon as their heads dip beneath the surface. _You're home now. Nothing more is going to happen to you._

Wedge struggles to keep his grip on Tycho gentle as they lead him home, wanting nothing more than to desperately drag him close, hold him in his arms and press kisses to his face and hair and assure himself he's really here. And he burns with questions. _Who_ took him and _why?_ Where has he been all this time? What were they doing to him? _Who hurt him like this?_

 

Tycho is stable. He lost consciousness part of the way back to the colony, but Wedge and Luke continued to carry him, and the moment they arrived, Luke and the other healers set to work.

Hours have passed since then, and they've done everything they can. The horrible gashes in Tycho's gauzy fins have all but vanished under the careful ministrations, and the faint lines that remain will either heal with time or scar over. Wedge hates that fact, but he knows the healers did their best. They can help, but they can't perform miracles.

The important thing is that Tycho is all right. He's healing, and though it's been nearly a day since they got him back, and he hasn't woken up yet, that's not entirely unusual either. He experienced trauma none of them can guess, and his body needs time to to recover.

Still, Luke and Wedge refused to leave him. They sit now beside of the bed he rests on, each of them holding one of his hands as their others hold each other. All three of them, together again. Wedge could cry from sheer relief.

Wedge just keeps watching Tycho, the way his chest rises and falls steady, the gentle flare of his gills as he breathes. He's alive. He's back with them. Everything will be okay now.

Tycho shifts a little on the bed, and Wedge and Luke snap to attention. A moment later, blue eyes blink open.

 _Hey,_ Luke says softly as he squeezes Tycho's hand, and Wedge can hear the anxiousness in his tone. _How do you feel?_

Tycho takes a moment to answer, shifting again on the bed and wincing. _Hurts_ , he admits. _But..._

 _Take your time_ , Wedge encourages when he trails off. _It's all right._

Tycho's eyes travel across his partners. There are shadows there that never were before, and Wedge aches to know what caused them and to make them disappear again.

 _They won't hurt me anymore,_ Tycho says slowly, eyes sliding away. _I'm safe._

 _You are,_ Luke assures fiercely. _No one is ever going to hurt you again._

 _Can you tell us what happened?_ Wedge asks, hating to push him immediately but needing the information. _It's okay if you can't._

 _I can. I was on patrol. I don't know how long ago it was... There was a boat. Further out than it should have been. I got closer to investigate, but I didn't see the net._ Tycho shudders. _Next thing I knew, they were dragging me back to shore. They put me in this room with a little barrel, just enough water in it for my tail to fit._

He stops, shaky, and Wedge lets go of Luke to touch Tycho's hair. _It's okay, love. The rest can wait._

 _No. Let me get it out._ Tycho steels himself and goes on. _They studied me. At first, they hardly even touched me, but then...they kept taking me out of the barrel and touching my tail and trying to figure me out. Then they-they cut-_

 _Bastards,_ Luke says sharply, apparently unable to keep it in anymore. He touches the edges of Tycho's fins so gently with his fingers. _Why?_

_I don't know what they wanted. If they wanted to know how we work or what...or why they just dumped me back like they did. I don't know. I'm sorry._

_You have nothing to be sorry for,_ Luke tells him in a tone the brooks no arguments.

Tycho falls silent.

 _We can't let this stand,_ Wedge says, full suddenly of a cold certainty. _I'll kill whoever did this myself._

 _Wedge-_ Luke says, alarmed.

 _No. Look at him!_ Wedge jolts upright, unable to take the thought of his injured lover, the people who hurt him for so long and then left him to die. _Humans did this on purpose!_

 _You can't start a war for me._ Tycho's words are soft but decisive. _It's not worth it._

Wedge's mouth drops open. _You- Dammit, Tycho! It is absolutely worth it. And even if you set aside that it's_ you _– which I absolutely cannot – this is undoubtedly an act of aggression. What if this was the humans trying to find our weaknesses? What if they're preparing for another attack right now!_

 _It's for the council to decide,_ Luke puts in diplomatically. _This isn't our decision._ His eyes flash, at odds with his tone. _Though if it were, I'm with you, Wedge._

Wedge settles down beside them again, the aggression draining away. He doesn't want to go to battle at this very moment, anyway. He only wants to focus on having Tycho back with them, taking care of him until he's healthy and strong again.

 _I love you_ , he says finally, pushing the words toward both of them. _Tycho, when we thought you were gone..._

 _I'm here, Wedge._ Tycho takes his hand, thumb skimming gently over his knuckles. _I won't go away again as long as I can help it._

Wedge pulls Tycho's hand to his mouth, pressing reverent, meaningful little kisses all over his skin. _This wasn't your fault._

 _Absolutely,_ Luke agrees. _The only thing that matters now is that you're back. We're together, and that's not going to change again, no matter what happens._

Wedge closes his eyes, just letting himself soak in the presence of his partners to either side. His heart beats with anxiety at the idea they may really be heading to war, but if he's with the two of them, if he gets his revenge on the people who hurt Tycho...he thinks that might not be so bad.


End file.
